Quetico Provincial Park

Ontario Wilderness Park Of About 4,600 Square Kilometres On The Minnesota Border; Over 2,000 Lakes Linked By Portages, No Roads, No Motors In Most Of The Park, And Ojibwe Pictographs On More Than 30 Rock Faces · Atikokan, Ontario

Quetico is four thousand six hundred square kilometres of Canadian Shield with more than two thousand lakes in it, linked by portages, and essentially nothing else - NO ROADS INSIDE THE PARK, NO LODGES, NO MOTORS ACROSS ALMOST ALL OF IT, and campsites that are a fire ring and a flat patch of rock. It shares a border with Minnesota's Boundary Waters, and the two together form one of the largest canoe wildernesses on earth. People come for one thing: to load a canoe and disappear into it for a week or two, carrying the boat between lakes on portage trails that in many cases follow routes used for thousands of years. OJIBWE PICTOGRAPHS IN RED OCHRE SURVIVE ON MORE THAN THIRTY ROCK FACES, painted at the waterline where a canoe would pass. The fishing is exceptional, the silence is total, and the permits are capped by entry point so that you can paddle for days without seeing anyone.

Highway 11 near Atikokan, Rainy River District, on the Minnesota border, Atikokan, Ontario, Canada

THE PADDLING SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY MID-MAY TO EARLY OCTOBER, ice-out to freeze-up, and the park is effectively closed to ordinary visitors outside it. INTERIOR CAMPING REQUIRES A PERMIT AND ENTRY IS QUOTA-CONTROLLED BY ACCESS POINT - reservations open months ahead and the popular entry points for July and August go quickly, which is deliberate and is why the park stays empty-feeling. FEES HAVE RUN ROUGHLY CAD 20-25 PER PERSON PER NIGHT for interior camping, with day use and the drive-in Dawson Trail campground charged separately. MOTORS ARE PROHIBITED ACROSS ALMOST THE ENTIRE PARK. Canoes, food barrels and full outfitting are available from outfitters in Atikokan and at Ely on the Minnesota side. There is no cell coverage in the interior.

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